Trayvon Martin's Father to Lead Vigil in Miami This Saturday

It's been almost one week since a court in Sanford, Florida, handed down the George Zimmerman verdict, and outrage is still running high. Protests have erupted across the U.S., in cities from Los Angeles to New York -- and, yes, in Miami, the city where Trayvon Martin was from.

The string of events to commemorate Martin's life and protest the Zimmerman verdict continues this Saturday, when a pair of simultaneous vigils in New York and Miami, led by Martin's family members, will anchor peaceful events in 100 cities nationwide, the National Action Network (NAN) announced today.

The 100 City "Justice For Trayvon" Vigils is scheduled for this Saturday, June 20, at noon in literally 100 cities across the country, in 33 states from Alabama to Wyoming. The Miami event will include an appearance by Trayvon Martin's father, Tracy Martin. In New York, Trayvon's mother, Sybrina Fulton, and her son Jahvaris, will be joined by Rev. Al Sharpton, NAN's founder.

According to a statement from NAN, the event will "press the federal government to investigate civil rights charges against George Zimmerman. Hundreds of national preachers ... will hold prayer vigils and rallies in front of federal buildings calling on the Justice Department to investigate the civil rights violations made against Trayvon Martin."

The National Action Network is a not-for-profit group with the mission of "[promoting] a modern civil rights agenda." It fell under scrutiny in 2008, however, with an IRS investigation into its taxes and questions about alleged threats by Sharpton to boycott companies that did not donate to the organization.

Ciara LaVelle is New Times' arts and culture editor. She earned her BS in journalism at Boston University, moved to Florida in 2004, and landed a job as a travel writer. For reasons that seemed sound at the time, she gave up her life of professional island-hopping to join New Times' staff in 2011. She left the paper in 2014 to start a family, but two years and two babies later, she returned in the hopes that someone on staff would agree to babysit. No takers yet.